When He Asks
by AwesomePossumx
Summary: When Tony Tyler asks about the Doctor, she can't help but give him a story he'll remember. 10 / Rose


**A/N:** I'm sorry I haven't been writing much lately! Things will pick up over spring break! Also, I've started up a Doctor Who blog! If you want to be the first person to see a new chapter / new story come out, follow it! The user is bow-to-my-tie! I just started it up so it doesn't have many followers right now, and every one is appreciated greatly!

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Just as she was exiting the room, her hand resting on the golden doorknob, the tiny voice spoke up again. "Can I have a bedtime story?"

Rose turned around, three of her fingers brushing lightly against the birch wood. Her other hand reached up to find the lightswitch on the wall and flick it upwards once more. Light filled the room and she saw Tony's hopeful face. His brown eyes were wide and pleading, the color of syrup. His facial features were more like his mother than his father, but nobody in the Tyler family could argue against the fact that he had Pete's hair. The whispy gold locks covered the top of his head and bounced as he sat up and leaned against the bedframe.

Rose folded her arms across her chest. "Another one?"

The child nodded persistantly.

"But you've already had two tonight," Rose countered.

It was only when Rose walked closer to his blue bed that Tony spoke again. "But the first was from Mummy and the second was from Daddy."

She frowned. "You don't like their stories?"

"I do," Tony explained, "but I like the stories about the Doctor the best."

Rose glanced back at the door, half-expecting Jackie to be standing there, dissapointed. Jackie had always hated Tony's excitement about the Doctor. "You want a story about the Doctor?"

"Your travels!" Tony bounced excitedly under the duvet as Rose sat down on the side, resting her hand on his knee.

"Well," Rose began, "which adventure?"

"A new one? Please?" he begged, lower lip extending. If Rose hadn't known better she would have assumed he had picked up that habit from the Doctor himself.

She smiled at the thought. "Have I told you the one about the werewolf?"

His mouth fell open, "A werewolf?! A real live werewolf?!"

Rose nodded.

"Did it attack you guys?" Tony was bouncing more now and Rose cursed internally for getting him this hyper. Surely he wouldn't sleep now.

"I'll tell you in the story," she promised. "It started when we landed the TARDIS in Scotland."

"Time and relative dalmation in space!" Tony chirped, elated.

"It's actually dimension, not dalmation," Rose corrected gently.

"Oh. And it looks like a police box!"

She ruffled his hair, "It does. And don't forget..."

"Bigger on the inside!" He screamed, and Rose put a finger to his lips to quiet him down. "Rose, how is it possible that somethin' can be bigger on the inside than it is the outside?"

"I don't know. He never explained it to me in a way that made much sense. It's complicated."

He considered this for a moment. "Can you ask him?"

Her face fell. "I wish I could. But he's in another dimension, remember?"

Tony looked confused. Then he reached over to his nightstand and picked up a pen before handing it to her. She turned it over in her hand and saw that the word "Torchwood" was engraved in blue writing, along with the logo next to it.

"Torchwood is working on getting him over here," Tony stated.

Rose smiled, "Yeah, they are."

Tony took the pen from her and returned it to its place on the nightstand. "Can you tell the story now?"

"Well we landed the TARDIS in Scotland. You know where Scotland is, yeah?"

His head bounced up and down and he flashed a proud smile. "We learned in school."

"Great! Well we landed there, and passing through the area was a woman named Queen Victoria. She is very famous in the other dimension."

"Who is she?" Tony frowned. "We didn't learn about her in school."

"She didn't exist here. At least, I don't think so. Here you have a president. In the other dimension, she ruled England."

He gasped, "Really? You guys met the president?!"

Rose couldn't find a way to explain it clearly to a six and a half year old. "We did. Well, a queen. And she thought the Doctor and I were her escorts."

"Escorts?"

"People to guide and protect her to where she's going. Anyways, then - "

"Was the Doctor wearing his pine stripes?" Tony interrupted.

"What do we say about interrupting people when they're talking, Tony?" She folded her arms across her chest and his face fell, lower lip peeking out again.

"'M sorry, Rose."

"He was wearing his pinstripes. They're not called pine stripes."

"Oh."

She cleared her throat before continuing. "So we went to this house with Queen Elizabeth. The house was called Torchwood."

His head snapped up. "Torchwood? You guys went to a different Torchwood with the president?"

"Sort of. Back then, it was only a building!" Rose shook her head.

Rose proceeded to tell him everything about their adventure. The werewolf ("Woah?! What did it look like?!"), the diamond ("How big was it?"), and more. However, the part he always seemed to care the most about was the Doctor.

When the story was over, Tony's questions poured out like water that had been held back by a dam.

"How did he know how to do that?" Tony asked quietly, his eyes sparkling.

Rose pat his leg affectionately, "He's clever. Clever enough to figure out the situation and know what to do."

"Will I ever meet a werewolf?"

"I hope not," she said in an exaggerated tone, "it was very scary."

"Were you and the Doctor in love?" Tony raised two blonde eyebrows.

Her heart caught in her throat as emotions poured out. She had been in this world for five years, and the first seven months had been filled with therapy sessions Jackie and Pete had insisted on her going to. Yes, she had loved - no, did love - the Doctor, but how could she possibly explain it to Tony?

"Yes, I loved him very much," she responded in a quiet, far-away sort of voice.

"Did he love you?"

Satellite 5. Him sending her away for her own well-being.

New Earth. He had fought so furiously to get her back to her body.

The werewolf. He had found her, as he always did, and put her life before his.

The Wire. That hardly needed explaining.

And then at Canary Wharf... How he had sent her back again against her will... She had hated it so much yet she knew it had been an act of love. And then the energy she could feel on the other side of that wall - the pure depression, anxiety, the fact that he had always known deep down that he would lose her somehow hidden deep in the bowels of his mind... And that voice that had been telling him not to get too close to her now chanting 'I told you so, I told you so.'

"Rose?" Tony's voice broke through her thoughts and she shook her head, trying to get herself together. "Rose, you're crying."

She put a trembling hand to her cheek and sure enough, there were tears. "I..." Rose tried to begin, but her heart in her throat wouldn't allow the words to come out.

"Mum?" Tony said, looking towards the door.

Jackie was standing there, eyes fixated on her daughter sitting on the bed. "Rose... Can I talk to you?"

Rose nodded, "I'll be out in a minute." Jackie shut the door reluctantly. Rose leaned down and kissed Tony on the forehead.

"He did love me."


End file.
